“If you took all the clichés about horrible urban design and shoved them into 75 acres, you’d probably end up with something pretty close to Dallas’ Victory Park.”
Author: ArtsJournal2
Disillusioned Former Artist-In-Residence Slams The Olympics
“When you’re involved close up with something like that you start to worry about the ethos of the Olympics and whether the original spirit of the Games is really reflected in what we have now,” artist Neville Gabie said
New York Finally Hears A Star Soprano Who’s Rarely In Town
“New York likes to think of itself as being the classical music capital of the world. Yet every so often it falls off the flight path of certain eminent musicians. Cecilia Bartoli, Carlos Kleiber, Birgit Nilsson and Brigitte Fassbaender are just a few of the great artists who have skipped New York for long stretches. The same goes for the superb Nina Stemme, widely considered the world’s reigning dramatic soprano.”
Taking Another Look at Jean Renoir’s Grand Illusion
“Grand Illusion repeatedly shows such examples of the potential for human feelings to bridge national boundaries. It is also a stunning example of Renoir’s skillful melding of realism and glittering artifice.”
As Phantom Tollbooth Turns 50, A Talk With Its Creator
“‘I started thinking about it,’ Norman Juster explains, ‘and I came to the conclusion that this kid had gone into a world where everything was correct but nothing was right. That was a feeling I understood.'”
Vandals Steal Public Art And Replace It With Dog Poo
“Lynn Bennett-Mackenzie had placed 200 small wood houses in 19 locations along a forest trail at Inverewe Gardens, owned by the National Trust of Scotland. But a large part of her work in Wester Ross has been stolen – with bags of dog waste being put in its place among trees nearby.”
Hey UK, Let’s Send The Vestal Virgins Of The Parthenon Back To Greece
“To weigh the issue, you need only ask yourself if Elgin’s behaviour would be acceptable today. Of course it wouldn’t, and nor would we expect to keep the result of such looting. So why do we hold on to these ill-gotten sculptures now?”
Yes, There’s A Way To Love Going To The Movies Again
“I have learned to adore the midnight show as a moviegoing experience. It has become the one lure that draws me unhesitatingly back to the theater. It’s not just a raucous party to be endured. It’s the one way in which movie theaters can still reliably fulfill their most sacred function.”
Turkey Called. It Wants Its Cultural Hegemony Back – Now
Turkey is building new museums and throwing a lot of money toward visual art and archaeology. “Turkey’s cultural plans at home are coupled with an unprecedentedly bold campaign to bring back treasures that it believes were stolen, which now sit in Western museums. These plans enjoy political support across the spectrum and the backing of all Turkey’s museum directors. The campaign targets many more objects and museums than the government has so far let on.”
If Your Writing Life Was About Drugs, And You Stop Doing Them, Then What?
“Fun, of course, is something [Jay McInerney has] long been interested in. He had lots of it upon arriving in New York in the early 80s, when he spent his time going to gritty night clubs, snorting coke and squiring various models. These experiences formed the basis for his scabrous debut, Bright Lights, Big City, which was an immediate success when it appeared in 1984, making him both rich and famous. He was soon a member of the literary ‘brat pack’ – its two other chief members were Bret Easton Ellis and Tama Janowitz – and continued moving in glamorously debauched circles, plundering his life in his fiction.”